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Page 150 MAJOR FIRES IN DUBOIS
On North Brady Street, then Courtney Street, were the
buildings already mentioned.
At 2 o'clock in the afternoon the fire alarm sounded.
This time is fixed by the fact that the mail coming from the east
was distributed in the Post Office at this time, which was then
located in the vicinity of the old Y. M. C. A. building. The writer
had risen to go for his mail, and on hearing the fire alarm looked
out of his window and saw a column of smoke rising perpendicularly
to a height of one hundred feet, in the vicinity of the Baker House,
a three story wooden building on North Franklin Street and probably
150 or 200 feet from the corner of Booth Street (now West Long
Avenue). The B. R. & P. passenger station stood north of this
building.
At that time there was no wind blowing, but by the time
I arrived at the scene of the fire a slight breeze had risen,
blowing west. Between the Baker House and West Long Avenue were
three or four wooden buildings occupied as residences. On the west
side of Franklin Street, on the corner of West Long Avenue, was a
three story structure built for a hotel. On the opposite side of
Long Avenue was the M. E. Church, a wooden building two stories
high, standing fifty feet south of West Long Avenue. Persons on the
ground began to remove the property from the dwelling houses in the
burning area, to the vacant ground of the M. E. Church. By the time
the household effects were removed, the wind was blowing very
strongly and it was but a few minutes until the church was on fire.
The wind veered to the west and it carried the flames up West Long
Avenue as far as Sugar Alley. The wind then again changed its course
and commenced to blow very strongly in a south-easterly direction.
It was not long until a two story frame building on the corner of
West Long Avenue and Franklin Street was on fire. In the locality of
the present St. James Hotel was the W. T. Ross grist mill, a four
story building. It was felt that the flames could be stopped at the
Commercial Hotel, but it was not long until that building was on
fire and the fire was coming out the windows on the east side. When
this occurred everybody gave up the idea of saving the town. Persons
occupying buildings and houses along the street began to move out
what goods they could get out. The fire continued to burn easterly
until it reached Stockdale Street. On East Long Avenue an apple tree
stood between the residence of Dr. W. A. Means and the building next
to it, and the Dr. Means residence was not burned. However, the fire
continued south-east and burned everything on Stockdale through to
Weber Avenue, there being no buildings on Weber Avenue at that time.
But one residence remained at the corner of East Washington Avenue
and South Stockdale Street, which still stands. The fire continued
north on Brady Street until it reached the corner of Scribner
Avenue. Mr. John E. DuBois early discovered the situation and
telegraphed to Renova for a fire engine. By 6 o'clock the engine had
arrived, and was placed on the bridge on
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